Congratulations to Rick Cloud who was part of a team to secure $50,000 in funding from the University Health Care IHOP Program. The purpose of this proposed interdisciplinary program is to increase the beneficial effects of smoking cessation counseling received by low-income patients in the ambulatory care setting. Two novel counseling approaches to promote smoking cessation behaviors will be compared to the current standard of care counseling. The specific aims are to:

1.    Compare the effects of resident physician motivational interviewing (MI), resident physician MI plus nurse telephone follow up using MI approach, and the current counseling approach (brief counseling) on smoking behaviors (readiness to quit, quit attempts, cigarettes smoked per day, current smoking rates) among current smokers.

2.    Identify factors that predict smoking behavioral change.

3.    Evaluate patient satisfaction with each of the three smoking cessation counseling approaches.